Life is But a Dream
by Nienna Nir
Summary: A very young Rumil and Orophin engage in an attempt to impress Rumil's new lady love before the sons of Elrond can snare her themselves. Sadly the river of life is not always smooth sailing. (Lothlorien durring the reign of Amroth, early III age)


"If you do not keep quiet I will have to throttle you!" Rumil hissed angrily at his older brother. Orophin was chuckling quietly as they crouched in the reeds near the Anduin, the early morning light sparkling off the water in the clearing mist.  
  
"You do not find this the least bit amusing?" Orophin asked, trying to hold in his laughter.  
  
"Nay, I do not." Rumil snapped in reply "And neither shall you if we are caught."  
  
"Well if you are so worried then I will return to my bed and you may find some other way to impress your fair flower." his brother grinned, standing to leave.  
  
"No!" Rumil grasped him by the tunic, pulling him back down in the tall grass with a look of total panic. "I promised Minuial that I would take her for a jaunt down the river, I cannot go back on my word!"  
  
"So instead you shall steal a boat?" Orophin asked with a grin.  
  
"Borrow!" he insisted "I am going to borrow a boat, and you are going to help me." Orophin rolled his eyes.  
  
"Very well." he smirked "what boat shall we 'borrow'?" Rumil looked out over the small bay with a frown.  
  
"That one." he said finally.  
  
"That boat?" Orophin asked, his eyes growing to twice their normal size, "You want to borrow that boat?"  
  
"It is a very nice boat." Rumil said defensively. Orophin scrambled to his feet, a look of horror on his face as Rumil jumped up, grabbed him by his tunic and hauled him to the ground again.  
  
"We are not stealing that boat!" Orophin insisted, his voice a bit higher than normal.  
  
"What is wrong with that boat?" Rumil demanded.  
  
"What is wrong?" he paused staring at his brother in disbelief "It is Lady Galadriel's boat!"  
  
"And as she is in council today with Lord Elrond she will not be needing it." Rumil pointed out.  
  
"Have you gone completely mad?" Orophin asked. "Can we not steal Lady Arwen's boat instead? She at least would not banish us."  
  
"I need that boat!" Rumil replied desperately, "Have you not noticed all the attention the twins have been giving Minuial? They will lure her away from me. I must do something to impress her."  
  
"The sons of Elrond are the least of your worries!" Orophin snapped "They will be gone in a few weeks time and Minuial will be stuck with you. Unless of course we are caught stealing our Lady's boat, in which case we will likely end up gelded and you will have no need of your sweetling." Rumil suppressed a horrified shudder, glaring at his brother.  
  
"We could borrow Lord Amroth's boat." Rumil suggested drily. Orophin stared at his brother, his mouth hanging open slightly in shock. He blinked several times before turing back to the bay.  
  
"You are right," he nodded, swallowing hard "It is a very nice boat."  
  
"See, what did I tell you?" Rumil smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "Now let us go."  
  
Two hunched figures stole along the riverbank, their steps wary as they approached the small inlet. There were no wardens visible but that did nothing to cheer them, ever were the Galadhrim watching and seldom seen. They crept to the foot of the great Mallorn that served as a dock and carefully skittered out onto its roots, jumping lightly into the boat and crouching behind the swans head carved into the prow.  
  
"I so love Lorien." Orophin said dismally, "I do not think exile will agree with me at all."  
  
"Do not snivel!" Rumil snapped, darting glances into the trees as he hastily untied the rope that held the boat to the anchorage. "If you do not try to be more helpful I will tell a certain elleth your true feelings for her!"  
  
"You wouldn't!" Orophin was quaking in fear as he grabbed an oar.  
  
"Aye, I would." Rumil replied, taking up the other oar. He pushed off from the tree and the swan boat drifted into the bay. "I'm sure the Lady Undomiel would be delighted to know who left all those beautiful eleanor blossoms on her doorstep."   
  
"You know about the flowers?" Orophin asked, his face growing white. Rumil's only answer was a wicked grin that made Orophin feel rather sea sick.  
  
"We are listing toward the shore." Rumil said in annoyance as the boat began to turn slowly toward the right. "paddle on the other side." Both elves began to try and straighten the boat's course and soon the small vessel was headed aground in the opposite direction.  
  
"Rhach!" Orophin snapped "why will this bloody boat not go in a straight line?"  
  
"I do not know." Rumil replied in frustration "perhaps it is broken."  
  
"Perhaps you do not know what you are doing." Orophin frowned as the boat began to turn lazy circles in the middle of the bay.  
  
"It is only a boat!" Rumil countered angrily, "how difficult can it be?"  
  
"More difficult than you think." Orophin insisted, clutching the sides of the boat and shaking his head "All this spinning is making me dizzy."  
  
"Some elf you are." Rumil snorted as he struggled to gain control of the vessel. He was paddling furiously and kicking water up into the boat as it began to float aimlessly around the bay.  
  
"This was a fine idea." Orophin snapped, trying to lend his hand to the oars again as Rumil splashed him. "We will not have to worry over being caught, we shall both drown long before that." They struggled a few minutes more, their efforts finally resulting in the boat making a slow, though more or less straight line out of the harbor.  
  
"There," Rumil said with a satisfied grin. "that was not so difficult." Orophin only glared at him but the dark expression did not long last. He felt a hissing sound pass his ear and he stared in horror at the black arrow imbedded in the bottom of the boat.  
  
"Orcs!" Orophin cried, leaping to his feet as Rumil did the same. The boat pitched madly from side to side and both elves lost their footing, tumbling into the water with a splash. Two more arrows hit the water near them and without a backward glance they both swam for shore, making enough racket in their departure to wake the entire city.  
  
In a nearby tree Haldir grinned to himself with smug satisfaction as he absently twirled an Orc arrow. The young warden had recently acquired them as trophies of his first skirmish with the beasts and he could not help but chuckle as he watched his younger brothers run frantically through the forest. Perhaps it would sever as a lesson to them.  
  
*************************************************  
  
"And then we drew our swords and charged down the fearsome beast." Elrohir said with a grin. He leaned a bit closer to the silvery haired beauty beside him.  
  
"It was a brutal fight, there were a few times when the troll nearly had us." Elladan added, leaning closer on her other side, "And once dear Minuial, it nearly brought it's club down on my dear bother's head."  
  
"Oh!" she said startled, looking at Elrohir as if expecting to find him still bearing some wound from his battle.  
  
"Thankfully, my brave and handsome brother distracted him long enough for me to get out of the way." Elrohir smiled as Minuial turned to look back at the older twin.  
  
"Thank you, brother." he smirked.  
  
"Do not mention it!"  
  
"Then Elrohir charged up to the beast and ran him through." Elladan said proudly, taking Minuial's hand and laying a light kiss on it.  
  
"I could not have done it if you had not cut his legs from under him." Elrohir conceded, taking the elleth's other hand.  
  
"You are so brave!" she said in awe, glancing between them "I would be terrified out of my wits if I had been set upon by a troll!"  
  
"Such is the burden of our title." Elladan said sadly.  
  
"Aye," Elrohir agreed "For always have lesser elves looked to our leadership in spite of our age."  
  
"But we do not regret it for a moment." Elladan insisted "It is a great honor to guard the safety of the daughters of the Eldar."  
  
"More so to defend a fair flower such as yourself." Elrohir added.  
  
"I am hardly deserving of your regard my Lords." she said with a shy smile.  
  
"Nay, Lady Minuial," Elladan said with his most charming smile "We are honored by your presence for beauty such as yours is unknown in Imladris." his lips were nearly touching hers and she could feel the soft breath of his twin against her ear.  
  
"Truly," Elrohir whispered to her causing her to shiver in delight "you are a glorious light upon this fair land." Both elves leaned closer to kiss her but before they could she started, distracted by a din so loud it could have been orcs crashing through the undergrowth. Minuial gasped as two figures stumbled into the clearing, disheveled and drenched to the bone.  
  
"Rumil!" Minuial cried in surprise, jumping to her feet and racing to him as he doubled over, panting. The twins looked at each other with annoyed expressions before turning appraising eyes on the Lorien brothers  
  
"Orcs!" he gasped, clutching his side "attacked our boat!"  
  
"Oh Rumil!" Minuial wrapped her arms around his shoulders, kissing his cheek "You poor dear, and you are unarmed! How ever did you survive?" she was stroking his hair comfortingly, oblivious to the fact that he was muddy and dripping all over her.  
  
"We managed to get away," Orophin panted. "but there must have been fifty of them!"  
  
"Rumil, darling, why do you have to be so brave?" Minuial caressed his cheek, "Oh how dreadful! Come, I'll take you home and make you a nice pot of tea and you can tell me everything." She led him away down the path, cooing fretfully, the sons of Elrond all but forgotten in her adoration for her new hero.  
  
"Orcs?" Elladan demanded with a snarl.  
  
"In Lothlorien?" Elrohir added.  
  
"There were orcs I tell you!" Orophin said defensively, "they shot at us!"  
  
"That is far and away the worst lie I have ever heard." Elladan snorted, his twin nodding in agreement.  
  
"Worse than that wretched tale you tell about the troll?" Arwen had appeared from the trees, a smug, teasing smile on her face.  
  
"That is not a lie!" Elrohir replied.  
  
"We did fight it." Elladan insisted.  
  
"You fought a gnarled old tree." Arwen said with a giggle. "that you mistook for a troll in your panic and worst of all you lost!"  
  
"We never told Minuial that we won!" Elrohir defended.  
  
"We can not be blamed if she assumes." Elladan shrugged. Arwen shook her head, stepping over them and linking her arm with Orophin's. He stared at her with open mouth and she giggled. She had always thought him rather cute.  
  
"Orophin, dear," she teased with a glowing smile "someone left flowers on my doorstep the other day, you wouldn't know anything about that would you?"  
  
"Um, I , well." he sputtered. She planted a kiss on his dirty cheek and he blushed crimson allowing her to steer him away down the path.  
  
"We should get you some dry clothes." she said practically, "and you can tell me all about your adventure this morning, it sounds so exciting!" The twins watched them disappear down the path, matching frowns furrowing their brows.  
  
"I believe we are going to have to change tactics." Elrohir said with a scowl.  
  
"We should offer to take Minuial on a cruse down the Anduin." Elladan suggested. Elrohir gave him a scathing glare.  
  
"We do not have a boat."  
  
"We will borrow Grandmothers." Elladan shrugged.  
  
"Borrow?" Elrohir asked, "you mean steal."  
  
"Oh, do not look so shocked." Elladan rolled his eyes, standing and helping his brother to his feet "How hard can it possibly be to steal a boat?"  
  
******************************  
  
Rhach - curses 


End file.
